Cah-Binn
An alien species native to the planet Cabina, which they share peacefully with the Church of Humanity Repentant. Physiology “I am Krik-tik-T, Singer of the first song*, Orator of the present moment*, Crafter of aluminum and gemstone*. Bearer of the ancestral Onyx Shard frame* You have the honor of gazing upon the rough-ground matter burrow digger. ~rough translation using a CHR developed translator.” Lifespan: The average lifespan of a Cah-Binn is 50 human years. The Cah-Bin Larvae starts life as clever as a human teenager and are expected to have "sorted itself out" within the first three years of having crafted its exoframe.* Birth: The Cah-Binn are birthed out of chitinous eggs as smooth-skinned larvae with multifaceted eyes and an oval-shaped brain. The center mass of the creature and its innards are sheltered by a durable though flexible and translucent protein barrier, covered in excreted mucus and connected to a series of multi-faceted tool like appendages. The autopsy reports have the tendrils of the newly born larvae reaching approximately 2 meters in length, but this infant creature, when alive and mobile has a very deceptive height in part due to how malleable and disjointed the individual appendages are at birth. These tendrils grow and develop as the creature needs during its developing phase. The density, prehensile strength, length and grip strength of a co-joined tendril bundle usually is wholly dependent on the quantity and quality of material available to the creature. This is one of the few things that doesn't change as the creature ages and adapts to its surroundings. Once the tendrils have been fused together, they cannot be undone but will continue to grow as one whole limb. Generally speaking, the number of limbs featured on the Cah-Binn exoframe has significance as to how well they did in their childhood. The more delicate limbs attached to the Cah-Binn Exoframe* the more successful it was above its peers. The hatched creature while without natural defenses boasts a considerable intellect when compared with a human child and starts its life with the instinctual knowledge on how to craft their egg into a durable chitinous exoframe*. Which it starts out crafting using the remnants of its eggshell and whatever materials the parents have seen fit to donate to ensure the survival of their offspring. A single mating between Cah-Binn usually produces at least 4 viable offspring, and the resulting fight for material to add to their exoframe, is the means by which the larvae are encouraged to develop both communicative skills, and learn the harsh lessons of life through. They learn to appreciate the crafting with their siblings, and the parents, having spent most of the gestation period crafting a safe underground shelter for this process to occur, act mostly as facilitators of knowledge and language while encouraging a steady and determined individualistic streak in their young. By the end of their crafting period. The now young Cah-Binn are expected to emerge with a well-developed mind for calculus and physics as well as a thirst for exploring the known world, crafting fine art, and to have found a variety of passions to pursue. = *Exoframe. A term used for describing the crafted Cah-Binn exoskeleton. The Cah-Binn have long since perfected adding and converting technology into their frames and use alternative fuel to power these systems. This means a fully functional Cah-Binn frame can house the larvae within for days, dispense sustenance, take care of necessities like waste recycling, rest, filter air, and act as a sensor suite, while also serving whatever function the Cah-Binn needs to endure the environment. We take this opportunity to remind the citizenry of the empire that though som some of the newer frames take on a humanoid appearance, this is merely a mimicry = = *Singer of Songs. All Cah-Binn relate to music mostly by vibrations, and during their struggles at birth singing songs is a way of learning. Due to this tradition, some Cah-Binn take the title Singer of the first song as part of their name to depict that they were the prime progeny of their clutch and the most successful of their peers. = = *Orator of the past/present/future moment. Is a title and a statement of philosophy. A Cah-Binn is expected to decide on a point of view to use in debate amongst their peers and parents. They reflect their choice in their name. Some valuing the traditions of the past, others living in the moment, and some look to the future. = = *Bearer of Ancestral exoframe. When a Cah-Bin parent or elder dies their frame is recycled through the family unit and given to the one most worthy to bear it. Some of these frames, especially ones who predate the war with humanity are carried with reverence and the user is known by having the title of "Bearer of the Ancestral exoframe" usually with a material or compound in between the word Ancestral and Exoframe followed by its purpose. = = *Crafter of. Cah-Binn will use what materials are available to craft with, but take certain materials or compounds to use above others to stand out. Being a crafter of a certain metal or compound means the Cah-Binn has taken care to master a metal. Most Cah-Binn usually acquire on average five different materials which they employ in their crafts in addition to their extensive bioengineering and cultural trades for rare or beautiful materials. = Psychological Lens Sagacity These aliens love intellectual pursuits above all others. Logic, wisdom, and erudition are all prized as the best and most glorious expressions of their nature, and their rulers are invariably sage-kings of remarkable depth and breadth of understanding. Such understanding does not necessarily stand in well for good judgment, and sagacious alien civilizations are notorious for overreaching in their ambitions. Stupidity and ignorance are moral failings to this race, and some of them treat very harshly those species that they do not feel to be their intellectual peers. Joy These aliens are relentless bon vivants, constantly in pursuit of pleasure and enjoyable excitement. Beauty, grace, and the inspiration of passion are their highest virtues. Those who produce the most exquisite art or inspire the most extravagant delight have effective rule over their fellows, though such species tend to be loosely-organized at best. The brute necessities of life are acknowledged as a necessity, but their societies are willing to sacrifice a great deal of efficiency and practicality for the sake of immediate satisfaction. Alien Player Characters / NPC's Natural Defenses: The creature has access to a hard shell and/or natural tools which can be used as weapons. The alien has a base Armor Class of 15 plus half their character level, rounded up. If you give them body weaponry or tools have it equivalent to a medium, advanced weapon and/or a post-tech / toolkit. Environmental Native: As a minor perk, the alien can when inside its exoframe, have modifications wich allow it to endure all sorts of atmospheres up to and including the harsh vacuum of space (until it runs out of air). Culture The Cah-Binn are crafters of the highest degree. They take immense pleasure in crafting their chitinous forms, some writing the history of their various stages of transformation into the hardened substances they've procured over the years. Their society is highly hierarchical and status-driven, with the quality of the chitinous form being a prime criteria for the amount of status given to an individual. The criteria by which the quality of a Cah-Binn's chitin is judged, however, is nigh-impossible for humans to understand. Many Cah-Binn have tried to explain it, but except for perhaps the Church's most gifted anthropology professors, no human has ever truly understood. The most people come away with is understanding that 'the angle of bloat is very important' but that it is not as important as 'the inside of the edge center's outside'. Diplomats are trained to nod politely and say positive things about the colors. This has led to various human-jokes among the Cah-Binn, which are only slightly less incomprehensible than their aesthetic explanations. The Cah-Binn strive to pursue intellectual endeavors as a matter of expressing their individuality. It lets them unveil not only their, sometimes impractically, self made exoskeletal frames, but also dazzle people with the brilliance of their minds and the sharpness of their wits. Due to this need for individual expression, and a constant need to improve their exoskeletal frames to one-up each other and improve their status, the Cah-Binn tend to specialize their frames towards one area of expertise. So that they can design their forms in unique ways none of their peers can match. In addition, it is not rare to see their immense capacity for adaptation to various systems or modes of technological improvement enhanced further by the use of custom made tools. The conflict with humanity introduced new kinds of thoughts never known to them before. For instance, they remain baffled by the idea that one species is somehow inferior to another. Cah-Binn culture understands status and hierarchy as centered on the individual, not groups as a whole. The Cah-Binn concept of community is centered not on exclusion and inclusion, but expansion and absorption. A Cah-Binn generally considers their own and their community's well-being as directly correlated to the size of the community and the density of ties of kin- and friendship between its members. In other words, in Cah-Binn culture, the bigger a community is, the better, with no exception. After the settlement of Cabina by the Church of Humanity Repent, many Cah-Binn desired to express kinship with their human neighbors, which has introduced several human-inspired exoskeletal fashion trends in the population. For example, standing on two legs rather than a supportive 6 or even 12 legged frame. As human settlers introduced materials from alien fauna like bird feathers, many Cah-Binn incorporated them into their designs, and there has been a resurgence in items such as long membranous wings allowing for all kinds of new and wondrous patterns. This almost parasitic empathy and need to express kinship is likely one of the reasons the species has been able to survive and thrive as much as they have in this human-dominated sector. Technology The Cah-Binn possess a roughly T4 level of technological understanding. However unlike human technology, the Cah-Binn eschew all forms of mass production. Cah-Binn technology is always unique, lovingly hand-crafted to serve the specific needs of the specific Cah-Binn it was designed by or for. History Before humanity's arrival in the sector, the Cah-Binn had settled a handful of systems surrounding Cabina. Humanity destroyed these settlements, and the final treaty the Cah-Binn were forced to sign forbade them from settling anywhere outside of the Benilli system. After the Scream, the Cah-Binn believed that the original human-alien treaties confining them to their homeworld had become null and void, and the ground of Cabina shook as it birthed several Cah-Bin space ships that began exploring the systems surrounding Cabina and engage in trade with the humans of these systems. The Cah-Binn also re-founded several small outposts in the sectors surrounding Cabina. The empire did consider this a breach of the original treaty. But as the outposts were small and posed no threat, and the trade was profitable to all involved, nothing was done beyond lodging a formal protest and using the issue to rile up anti-alien sentiment whenever it was politically convenient to some imperial faction or the other. This lasted until the reign of the Blood Eagle. The Cah-Binn were an obvious target, and it wasn't long before the Aquilan Emperox went after them. But when the Aquilan Emperox sent his imperial troops out to cleanse the Cah-Binn outposts, and embargo the Cah-Binn trade ships, he met with more resistance than he expected. The Cah-Binn outposts were reinforced with garrisoned defenders, and their trade ships were as varied as their exoskeletal frames. This uniqueness proved to be more than humanity had initially bargained for. As a result of the increased resilience to imperial tactics, the imperial military forewent a ground invasion of Cabina, instead opting to request the imperial navy for months of orbital bombardments that scarred the planetary surface until the Cah-Binn found a way to communicate their unconditional surrender. For a brief period, an imperial garrison was deployed on the planetary surface, establishing a permanent human colony on the planet called Lux Gravare. The garrison was recalled soon after the Blood Eagle's death in 2955 but the colonists stayed, and when the founders of the Church of Humanity Repentant were looking for safe harbour to put into practice their ideas Cabina soon became an obvious choice. Though understandably wary at first, the Cah-Binn begrudgingly accepted these 'repentant' humans' presence, though the devastation visited upon them by humanity was, and still remains, fresh in the Cah-Binn's cultural memory, over time many have come to trust their human neighbors. Helping build this trust was that part of the Church's offer of reconciliation was a promise: If anyone ever seeks to bombard the Cah-Binn again, they'll have to bombard millions of humans who will fight alongside them. Today, the human population outnumbers that of the Cah-Binn, and though the two species largely live in separate communities, relations between the communities are good. Category:Aliens Category:The Church of Humanity, Repentant